n him. His very figure had lost
its elasticity, and become slouching and cowering.

"What have you been doing with yourself the last three years?" asked
Meredith.

"Oh, all sorts of things; going to the bad, chiefly. Not much
opportunity for doing that or anything else here, you may think,"
noticing the direction which the other's eyes took. "No; I have gone
farther afield. Spent two years in London; tried my hand at all sorts of
things, and failed. I am a failure all round."

"Nonsense, man; if you take that tone you may be."

"There is no other tone to take, now," moodily.

"Give up in that way, with your abilities, and the world before you!"

"It seems easy enough to you, I dare say. It did to me before I tried.
There is no need for you to put your theories to the test, or you might
find that men occasionally fail, even though they have hands and brains
to work with. Some have to go down, and I'm one of them--that's all!"

"That is not Miss Verschoyle's creed, I think?"

"My sister! She has been telling you about the wretched teaching
business, I suppose? She, at any rate, is not cursed with the family
pride. I can't endure to see her go about giving lessons to the
clodhoppers round here. Does no end of drudgery about the house, too."

It had come to this: the sister was working for both; and Verschoyle did
not even see what his allowing her to do so meant! "What kind of pride
was this?" thought Meredith, his tone showing, perhaps, a little of what
was in his mind, as he gravely replied:--

"I can quite understand your objecting to that. You must let your
friends use what interests they have to get you into something,
Verschoyle."

"It would be of no use; at any rate, until----no necessity for going
into that," moodily kicking a stone across the path. What he wanted just
then was money, and this was not the man to whom he could turn for that,
with his talk about setting to work. How could he say to this man that
he had squandered the last remnant of the small property which had come
to him; and that they were liable to be turned out of the old home, such
as it was, at any moment now--his invalid mother, and the sister who had
striven so hard to keep things together--unless he could obtain money to
stave off matters, at any rate for a time? Pressure was now being
brought to bear upon him, and threats used that, unless he paid off the
sum of five hundred pounds--a sum there seemed no possibility of
procuri